CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM
ACTION REQUESTED:
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Pass the ordinance approving a sign variance from Title 6 (Zoning Regulations), Chapter 16 (Signs) Section 6:1 (Special Areas of Control: Educational Campus) to permit four wall signs on the building located at 160 E Chicago Avenue (NCC) - PZC 21-1-093
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DEPARTMENT: Transportation, Engineering and Development
SUBMITTED BY: Gabrielle Mattingly, Community Planner
BOARD/COMMISSION REVIEW:
The Planning and Zoning Commission (PZC) considered PZC 21-1-093 on August 18, 2021 and recommended approval of the request (6,0). Staff concurs.
BACKGROUND:
The subject property is zoned CU (College/University District) and is located south of Chicago Avenue, east of Washington Street at the perimeter of the North Central College (NCC) campus. The owner and Petitioner, NCC, has recently completed construction of a new academic building, the Health Sciences & Engineering Building (HSE Building), and wishes to install wall signage on all four sides of the building.
DISCUSSION:
Given the building is located within the NCC campus, the educational campus sign regulations are applicable to wall signs installed on the building. These regulations include a maximum permitted wall sign allowance of 32 square feet per frontage of the building. The Sign Code regulations define frontage as, "a strip or extension of land abutting a public or private roadway (excluding drive aisles)." Specific to the new academic building, the allowable wall signage is one, 32 square foot wall sign, placed on the northern fa?ade facing Chicago Avenue.
The building is uniquely located on the edge of the NCC campus, visible from Washington Street, and is in close proximity to the River Square commercial shopping center. As such, the Petitioner does not find that the allowable wall signage, either in allowable sign size or number of permitted signs, provides adequate identification of the building. The Petitioner is requesting a variance in order to ins...
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